Richard Chatten The title 'The Red Mill' is familiar to most film scholars as the film Fatty Arbuckle directed under the pseudonym "William Goodrich" after several years blacklisted by Hollywood following a widely reported sex scandal in 1921. But it proves to be a delightful film in its own right, full of vintage sight gags in which Arbuckle's hand is evident, and further confirming Marion Davies' talent for comedy.Set in an amiable Hollywood caricature of Holland, as a skivvy in a tavern called 'The Red Mill' Ms Davies is made to look comically plain in freckles, pigtails and a Dutch bonnet which we never see her without; even when she decides to glam herself up by applying a mudpack to her face - with hilariously surreal results. Handsomely produced, played as farce and supported by an excellent cast of comic supporting actors (including a mouse called Ignatz), it veers off course towards the end with a sequence set in a haunted windmill that really belongs in a different film. But the film was a big hit in its day and deserves to be better known on its own merits and not merely as a footnote to the Arbuckle scandal.

preppy-3 This silent takes place in Holland (for some reason). Tina (Marion Davies) is a maid at the Red Mill. Her boss treats her like dirt, she's lonely and has no friends. One day she meets hunky Dennis Wheat (Owen Moore) and falls in love. Naturally he barely knows she exists. It all comes to a head a few months later.This movie is, to put it mildly, way too plot heavy. The main plot goes all over the place and brings in some wildly improbable turns. There's tons of unfunny slapstick (the part where Davies struggles to put up an ironing board was especially painful to watch) and the movie wavers uncomfortably between romance, comedy and drama. It's well-done and well-directed and the acting helps--Davies is beautiful and full of life and Moore is unbelievably handsome and hunky. But, all in all, I was bored and couldn't wait for it to end. I give this a 4.

svaihingen Great silent movie shown in a beautifully restored version on TCM.Plot summary: Dutch servant girl falls for an Irish Prince during his vacation in Holland - circumstances prevent their coming together.Later, the Irish Price is back in Holland to be married off to the local rich Burgomaster's daughter. The Burgomaster's daughter, however, is in love with a peasant. The servant girl helps the Burgomaster's daughter dress as a peasant to woo the peasant - meanwhile she dresses as the Burgomaster's daughter.The Prince mistakes the servant girl for the Burgomaster's daughter, falls in love - and madcap hilarity ensues.Will the rich guy get his Maid in Old Amsterdam??? Will the rich Burgomaster's daughter get her peasant??? The story plays out in too many mistaken identity plot devices to count - but the story is fun, clever, charming and actually pretty funny. Recommended viewing.

overseer-3 Despite watching this film in a less than ideal print, with a canned soundtrack (as of this writing, I hope TCM eventually airs this film with a good soundtrack based on the public domain music of Victor Herbert for this operetta -- I know they have it in their library, what are they waiting for???), I really enjoyed this romantic comedy. Although still essentially a period piece (Hearst loved those and kept putting Marion in them), Marion Davies' screwball comedy skills brighten up the whole picture, which otherwise would have been just a quaint little programmer, soon forgotten.Marion is ably supported by handsome Owen Moore (Mary Pickford's first husband), and additional comic relief is provided by wonderful Karl Dane (who looks almost handsome here!), and perky Louise Fazenda, who actually was quite pretty when young, so it was brave of her to agree to look ugly for this film. Not to mention our own little favorite funny man, Snitz Edwards, who is always a barrel of laughs in every film he's in, simply by hamming it up for the camera.The plot doesn't have much to do with the Victor Herbert operetta; that was more of a serious story, and sometimes the pace of this film seemed a bit fragmented, but overall it really is a crowd-pleaser and needs to be more widely available; just one more example of Marion Davies' astounding comedic abilities. She was so much more than just Hearst's paramour! She was the first screwball comedienne! (Also a woman with a big heart, since apparently she was instrumental in getting Roscoe Arbuckle this directorial job and I'm sure his influence added to the comedy). 8 out of 10.Update: TCM is airing this film in April 2007 for the first time.